...international companies are among those benefiting from access to gold rich areas [in northeastern Congo] while local people suffer from ethnic slaughter, torture and rape...The report provides details of how a leading gold mining company, AngloGold Ashanti, part of the international mining conglomerate Anglo American, developed links with one murderous armed group...The Human Rights Watch report also illustrates the trail of tainted gold from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to neighboring Uganda...The report documents how a leading Swiss gold refining company, Metalor Technologies, previously bought gold from Uganda...the company announced on May 20 that it would suspend its purchases of gold from Uganda. The Metalor statement was welcomed by Human Rights Watch.